Sri Lankan hoppers... and symphony in the rain

I went to the Buddhist food festival today. The Buddhist society of Darwin has its grounds in the northern suburb of Leanyer, a fair way from the city but pretty close to the hospital. I was shocked to see that half of Darwin had rocked up to the food fair and festivities, like seriously, Darwin and Buddhist in the same sentence?

 Stupa at the Buddhist centre

It took about half an hour to get to the head of the line and get my hoppers, which were cooking very slowly as there were half a dozen women there but the hopper cooking wasn't very co-ordinated. Nevertheless the aroma of the hopper batter as it cooked was so enticing that I kept standing in line anyway.

Hoppers are like bowl-shaped pancakes made in a special hopper pan. The batter is made of rice and coconut milk, and must be fermented as it slowly bubbles as it cooks. The egg hoppers have an egg cracked into the middle too, and cooked  to just right with the lid on. These hoppers were served with a piece of chicken curry and a very spicy sambal cabbage.

I also picked up some cendol just as it was about to run out, and these were deliciously sweet with coconut milk and palm sugar. The slippery pandan noodles were homemade and thicker than usual, which made them slightly more chewy, which I love. This was so perfect for some content slurping after the hoppers.

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Last night I went to Darwin Symphony Orchestra's second concert of the year, where they played Sculthorpe's Beethoven variations; Mozart's violin concerto no. 5 in A major and the Pastoral symphony by Beethoven. It was an ambitious program for a community volunteer orchestra and they did remarkably well.

It was beginning to storm as the pre-concert talk started. Most other concerts I've been to have had so very formal pre-concert talks where the discussion is based on the background of the works to be performed. In Sydney the talk is usually given by prestigious musicians or others in the field, but Darwin must be Darwin... so we sat around on plastic garden chairs under a pergola in the Indonesian garden at Charles Darwin University, and geckos climbed on the wall all around us. Only about 30 people showed up for the pre-concert talk so it was very informal and the speakers didn't even need a microphone!

The concert itself was held in the auditorium at Charles Darwin University, which had an uncanny resemblance to the hall at Fort Street, where I sat many a time (mostly on the stage as I played the national anthem and school song most assemblies). This is the first concert I've been to where the national anthem was played prior to the concert, and it felt even more like a school assembly! Most people stood and sang, which was a nice touch.

The Sculthorpe was a hard one to start with, as the dissonance was received with many puzzled looks in the audience. Some started singing along to the familiar bits, and the crowd insisted on clapping in between every movement, which I thought was also quite Darwinian. Where else would you rock up to a classical concert, have half the people around you in shorts and thongs, and even have some bring their own beer to drink?

Katie Betts was stunning as the solo violinist in the Mozart. The orchestra played well but she made her beautiful instrument sing, and I think everyone was pretty impressed.

It was pouring as we went to intermission, and the courtyard outside the auditorium was intermittently lit by the flashes of brilliant lightning. The rain fell steadily and the air was filled with a moist sweet scent. As we sat down to the second half of the program, Katie suddenly turned around and said "Where else but in Darwin would we hear the Pastoral symphony, accompanied by the rain and the sound of crickets?" It is so true, where else would one hear the sounds of the storm outside alongside the musical storm of the Pastoral? I have heard the Pastoral so many times in my life, but this was a pretty unique one that will stay with me...